By Adetokunbo FAKEYE
Nigeria – The Minister of State for Health Dr Iziaq Adekunle Salako has charged the beneficiaries of the Federal Government 10,000 Professional Kits distributed to midwives in the North Central Zone of the country to deploy the kits for the purpose they are meant for with all sense of responsibility.
The Minister, who made the charge in his speech at the distribution occasion in Ilorin, Kwara State, also reminded the midwives that each item given to them represents a commitment to life, to health, and to the dignity of ‘our women and children’.
Dr Salako, while noting that the country accounts for about 20% of global maternal deaths, with approximately 1047 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, assured that the Nigerian Government is doing all it can to close the gap in access to healthcare, especially for pregnant mothers.
The minister praised the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, for her commitment to improving maternal healthcare through her Renewed Hope Initiative.
Below is the full speech of the Minister:
REMARKS BY DR IZIAQ ADEKUNLE SALAKO, HONOURABLE MINISTER OF STATE FOR HEALTH AND SOCIAL WELFARE ON THE OCCASION OF THE PRESENTATION OF 10,000 PROFESSIONAL KITS TO MIDWIVES IN NORTH CENTRAL ZONE, NIGERIA HELD ON 29TH JANUARY, 2025 AT THE KWARA STATE GOVERNMENT HOUSE BANQUET HALL, ILORIN.
Protocol.
Your Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
2. It is both an honour and a privilege to stand before you today at this historic gathering where we are advancing the Renewed Hope Agenda and the Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative of Mr. President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR. The Renewed Hope Initiative Programmes of Her Excellency, Sen. Oluremi Tinubu, the First Lady of Nigeria has become an independently driven, non-governmental valuable approach that is adding a lot of impetus to the vision of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and we in the health sector have been favoured to be a major beneficiary of the inteverventions in several areas.
3. Your Excellency ma, today’s event further reaffirms your commitment to improving our nations healthcare system particularly with respect to maternal and child health outcomes. Your Renewed Hope Initiative exemplifies what is possible when there is passion, altruism and deep commitment. Under, the initiative, we can see a purposeful prioritization of the health and well-being of Nigerians. Let me therefore on behalf of all of us in the health sector and indeed on behalf of the average Nigerians whose life you continue to impact positively, express our profound appreciation to you ma for not just supporting the President’s agenda to deliver a robust health system but to build a Nigeria where no life is lost needlessly to preventable causes.
4. Today’s event, the Presentation of 10,000 Professional Kits to Midwives in the North Central Zone of our country is not just a symbolic gesture, it is a significant stride toward strengthening the capacity of Midwives and advancing the goals of sustainable development. Current statistics present a sobering picture where Nigeria accounts for about 20% of global maternal deaths, with approximately 1047 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. While we have made progress, much more needs to be done to close the gaps in access, quality, and equitable healthcare delivery especially to our pregnant and nursing mothers.
5. Midwives, as frontline health workers, are crucial to reversing poor maternal and child health indices. They play a vital role in preventing maternal and neonatal deaths and are most times the only available skilled health professional in communities. Midwives provides essential care and timely interventions to women and children our communities and hard to reach areas. For a good number of us, but for midwives, we probably would not have survived child birth.
6. The Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare therefore recognises the importance of midwives and has been upscaling their training across our institutions and prioritizing the profession. A few years ago, we launched the Community Midwifery Scheme, under which, women and girls are trained to become licensed Community Midwives and later deployed to serve in their own communities. The Community Midwives focus on grassroots maternal health. They are not only trained to deliver quality care but are also equipped to promote health education, drive community engagement, and resolve the socio-cultural barriers hindering access to care. This initiative helped to mitigate the effect of rural-urban migration ensuring that woman and child receives the care they need, leaving no one behind in the access to quality health services.
7. This Renewed Hope Initiative Health Programme with the distribution of critical tools essential for managing labour and the day to day activities of 10,000 Midwives is a valuable compliment to the agenda of ensuring that every pregnant woman in Nigeria is delivered by a skilled birth attendant. The initiative aligns with a key deliverable of the ministry to improve maternal and child outcome by reducing maternal mortality rate by 20% and under-5 mortality by 15% by 2027. It is a reinforcement to the second pillar of the health sector renewal investment initiative and a catalyst to the drive for universal health coverage in our country.
8. The Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare continues to work, providing policies and establishing special interventions for the actualization of these key deliverables. At the Primary Health Care level, dedicated funding for maternal health through the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund and the Vulnerable Group Fund is being provided. We have also launched a special intervention programme, the Maternal Mortality Reduction Innovations Innitiative (MAMII) preferentially targeting the 172 high burden local governments in the country responsible for more than 50% of maternal deaths. We will continue to promote and value partnerships especially with our mother of the nation, Her Excellency Senator Oluremi Tinubu CON and our first ladies at the subnational level to expand the reach of midwifery services, amplify the voices of our health workers, and ensure that every woman in Nigeria has access to skilled care during pregnancy and childbirth.
9. Your Excellencies, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, improving the health status of Nigerians and achieving universal health coverage in our country by 2030 is a top priority of the Federal Government under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR. Mr. President continues to demonstrate this priority focus through various policies and actions including increase fund allocation, improvement and expansion of health infrastructure across the country and improving our capacity to train health healthcare professionals. The President has also been issuing special executive orders and waivers to address peculiar challenges within the sector such as cost of drugs and emigration of professionals.
10. Let me conclude this address by charging the beneficiaries of this laudable initiative to remember that each item therein represents a commitment to life, to health, and to the dignity of our women and children. I urge you to deploy the kits for the purpose they are meant for with all sense of responsibility and in full commitment to the Florence Nigthingale Pledge that you took as nursing professionals. I salute you, our dear midwives pledge our continuous support in every way possible.
11. Once again, I applaud our first lady HE Senator Oluremi Tinubu CON and all those who worked to make this wonderful gesture of service to the nation possible. Together, we can make Nigeria a model for maternal health and halt all deaths of mothers at childbirth.
12. Thank you, and God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Iziaq Adekunle SALAKO
Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Ilorin, Jan. 29th, 2025.
